DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about a man born right here in Freestone County, Texas. Now, pull up close, because this one's worth hearing. The year is 1868, and somewhere in this county, a boy named Harvey Means comes into the world.
Nobody's writing that down as a moment of consequence just yet. But they will. They surely will.
Means lived until 1943, and in between those two years, he packed in a life that the marker calls — and I love this turn of phrase — 'barber to two generations of prominent Texans.' Two generations. Let that settle. At eighteen years old, Harvey Means is shining shoes in a west Texas barber shop.
That's where he starts. Now here's where the story takes its turn, and I want you to picture this scene. Some rowdy cowboys come in one day demanding haircuts.
Not asking politely. Demanding. And Harvey Means — eighteen years old, no formal training, probably holding a shoe-shine rag — looked at those cowboys, looked at those scissors, and said, in so many words, alright then.
He complied with their wishes. That was the beginning of a fifty-four-year career. Fifty-four years.
His last thirty-one of them were spent in Fort Worth, where he helped establish a hospital and a city park for black citizens. He led in civic affairs, religious affairs, fraternal affairs, and he worked continually — the marker uses that word, continually — to improve race relations. And all ten of his children attended college.
Every last one. Harvey Means started with a shoe-shine and a roomful of cowboys who didn't know they were about to change a man's life. The marker's been standing in Freestone County since 1971, and the story it tells hasn't gotten any smaller with age.
What the marker says
(1868-1943) Noted Negro civic leader and barber to two generations of prominent Texans. An adventurous youth, Means began work at age 18 as shoe-shine boy in a west Texas barber shop. When rowdy cowboys demanded haircuts one day, Means (though inexperienced) complied with their wishes, and thus began a 54-year career. His last 31 years were spent in Fort Worth, where he helped establish a hospital and city park for black citizens. He led in civic, religious, and fraternal affairs and worked continually to improve race relations. His 10 children all attended college.